bitteroldhag

Our Wal-Mart was recently "upgraded." After 6 months of the new store, people still can't find what they want, but if they happen to find the right spot, what they want isn't there anymore. They dropped a slew of products, pretty much ruined the deli (their Black Forest ham is delicious), added some off brand restaurant, and, above all, added these little carousels for the plastic bags they put stuff in. I go in there and can't find what I want despite the fact that they've had this stuff for the 15 years I've lived here. Our Wal-Mart was one of the first 10 ever established and it is ruined. They have the little carousels so shoppers will put their own bags in the carts. We already have the lousy carts that never work right. We already have to take the stuff we buy to our cars ourselves, and now we're supposed to put stuff in the carts so we can trundle them out to the car. I know this because our housekeeper also works at Wal-Mart. She works in housewares. They totally gutted the floral department, the hobby department and the fabric department. We can get cotton fabrics and that's about it. I have to drive 25 miles to the nearest bigger town to get any of this stuff at other stores, not Wal-Mart. We used to have a fabric store, but Wal-Mart put them out of business years ago. Wal-Mart used to have very high shelves stacked with stuff. The high shelves are gone despite the fact that they no longer have security for shoplifting. My housekeeper said they determined that having security guards was more expensive than just letting people shoplift. The high shelves apparently contained useful goods that are no longer available. Maybe the lack of anything to shoplift has deterred crime. My response hasn't been a good one. I am v-e-r-y slow in paying for my stuff so the clerk will give up and put it in the cart. I have quit buying groceries at Wal-Mart. It's worth it to me to pay a few cents more and go to the good grocery store. I used to spend about $200-300 a week at Wal-Mart. The last time I went I spent $59 and that was for stuff that only Wal-Mart carries. I have been shopping at Wal-Mart since a store came to our town many, many moons ago. Now I don't. I wonder what genius decided to drive away all the shoppers. If your store hasn't been changed, be warned. It may come to your town next.

I went to England and this gal had baby blue carpet. We have to remove our shoes. I had on my Reeboks and it was a real pain to take them off every time I went in or out of the house. In my house, no one takes off their shoes. If the carpets get dirty I have the carpets cleaned. I would much rather do that than insult guests. Besides, I have 5 dogs and two cats, plus Mother. My carpets are usually pretty grimy anyway. In fact, after the 7 puppies I recently had my carpets cleaned and people notices how much better they looked. I think I need to have them cleaned more often. But, outside of Japan, asking folks to take off their shoes when they visit is rude because they implication is that your carpet is more important the your guests.

I was up in Colorado this spring with my brother who weighs a whole lot. He says he weighs 260 which I figure means 280 pounds. I was just shocked then a store clerk said some about my brother's weight, and not mine. I was trying to get my brother to get the band, but I spent the first few days throwing up every time I tried to eat. It finally went away, but I don't think he wants the band now. Bummer! The store clerk really pissed me off though even though he was young and callow. One of my colleagues who is thin is always making snide remarks about my other colleague's weight. I tell her to shut up since she's not perfect herself.

j.s. -- If there'd been a snake in the water with me, I'd have flown into that boat.

As a smoker, I'm getting tired of the health Nazis telling me what to do. I don't want to endanger anyone, but I'm just not convinced that smoking out of doors is likely to kill anyone. But I have noted increased incidences of hyperthermia in the summer and hypothermia in the winters among smokes forced to huddle outside. We have a designated smoking area in front of Seminary Hall where we teach. It's amazing how many non-smokers hang around there. Why? Because the smokers are fun and they enjoy us. We also do a whole lot of counseling out there. But take heart, smoking Nazis, most of us smokers are old and we'll check out before long and leave the world a better place.

Did you read about the gal in Arkansas who just had her 17th kid? She says they want more. This woman has been pregnant for 10.5 years of her life. What is wrong with her? But I think giving birth for her is pretty much like squeezing cream cheese out of a tube.

BJean -- I haven't eaten any Chik Fil A chicken and won't. I don't do well with fried chicken these days, but I love good baked chicken. I get those little rotisserie chickens at the local grocery store, nuke them for 5-10 minutes to kill the germs and they go down pretty well. But I think I'm going to try beating the hell out of some chicken breasts, put some Stove Top in them and give that a try. Of course, I have to jazz up the Stove Top a lot, but it's pretty good when I get through adding stuff. I ate some rice today at a wedding reception. It went down very well. It is on our proscribed list, but I'd sure like to make some Shrimp Creole. I have Brennan's recipe and that the best Shrimp Creole in the world. Good hearing from you. I love to hear from Okies who aren't nuts.

No, Talala is up closer to Coffeyville, KS where I get my fills. Katt -- Isn't Talala a speed trap?

Are you sure it's not freezing up? My friend had new A/C put in and I think it was too big for her house. It leaked and ruined her kitchen floor. Make sure the thing isn't too big. Then get someone else out there. If you look long enough, you'll find a decent A/C repair person. Ask around and see who everyone else in your neighborhood uses. My parents had a room A/C and it froze up because it wasn't hanging the right way and the water didn't drop out right. Being from Oklahoma, I know a lot about how A/Cs can go wrong. Good luck.

I haven't been watching this thread, but where did you all move in Oklahoma? I live in Tahlequah. Welcome to the Sooner State.

Tipping beauticians is a problem. As a former beautician, I can tell you that you never tip the owner of the salon. But you should tip the people who work there. I got a pedicure for my birthday and it was heaven. So I tipped the gal $10. She nearly had a heart attack. I think I overdid it.

chica -- Well, poop. I gave all my 20 clothes to a girl I know who just had a baby. If you have a good Goodwill or Salvation Army, shop there. I've seen some really good clothes at those places and all you have to do it have them cleaned.

Lee4Love -- Great!! Keep doing this. But get some clothes that fit. It's amazing how many people notice you have lost weight when your clothes fit. I went to take my old RAV 4 for cleaning to sell it and my old dean noticed I'd lost weight because I had clothes that fit. He thought I looked great. Of course, he's seen me at least 3 times since I lost weight, but my clothes didn't fit. Get some thing clothes.

Well, I can't believe I spelled ad wrong. Forgive me. I guess I've read it wrong so many times in freshman papers that I have concluded it should be spelled ad. I tried to edit it but got a whole bunch of smiley faces. Strange.

The add has been in for several and NO CALLS!! I may have to send the car to auction with my old dean who loves cars. But he's the one who cleaned it up and didn't do a great job. Still, I hope I can auction it off. Life just gets crappier and crappier.

BJean -- I think NSU has improved though we now serve lots of junk food. We have a "food court" which serves fattening, greasy junk food. The kids like Chikfila or whatever it's called. They cook french fries in chicken fat. It's really disgusting. They bring it to class and it smells up the room. The kids just can't understand why they gain weight. But I used to eat in the faculty dining room and it wasn't horrible though not good. The vegetable soup was edible. Now, with the band, I can't eat until about 3 p.m. so university food is not a problem anymore. I can't believe anyone could screw up pork chops. I love pork chops. That cook should have been shot.

Just a tip. Make sure it's not your heart. My arms hurt for quite a while and then I had a double bypass. I suspect the problem is your chest (ahem) but it's good to check out the old heart. My college roommate had the boob problem, poor devil. Unfortunately, I don't have that problem. Well, maybe fortunately.

Air conditioners always break down when it's really, really hot. Call the guy to fix it asap.

I saw this and a thrilled. I also heard that William Shatner will be in the movie. I can't wait! What the hell is wrong with these people who don't realize cinema history is being made?

Bjean and Green--What would I do without those Canadians? I gave away all 8 dogs and am left with my 4 male dogs and Stevie, the female neighbor dog. She seems to have moved in forever, but I'm glad to have a female dog in the house. At least they put some flea medicine on her, she's had her rabies shot for this year, and she's been spayed. Of course, I put the expensive flea and tick medicine on her, but two doses of flea medicine doesn't seem to have affected her though she definitely doesn't have fleas. However, she has what we call beggar lice which are small cockleburrs. They are a pain. I combed about 3 pounds of excess hair off her and she's much more comfortable in the heat. It's hot and humid here but it finally quit raining. Of course, the rain cost me a fortune, but I'll recoup over the next few years. I plan to retire in 4 years if I can. So I bought the new/used RAV 4 which I plan to pay off in my final four years and then I'll coast unless Mother lives the whole time. I've been taking care of Mother for 6 years and I was tired the first year. I'm beyond tired now, but I'm really good on problems of the elderly. I may make that my profession when I retire. Actually I'd like to cook for the local nursing home but I'll have to take a course in chef's school before I can do that. Practically anything would be better than what they serve now.

Holy Smoke! I never heard of such a thing and I've lived in the South most of my life. Luckily, Tahlequah is not on the list. I'd have to move!

I get very tired of this, but the good side is that the fat women are usually men in drag. One wonders why fat men in drag are so funny.

P.S. I had the old car cleaned up and today I had to clean up the stuff they didn't clean up. Lord, the world is weird these days. I managed to figure out how to put the garage door opener in the new car and it worked! I was amazed. Not if I can just figure out how to work the cruise control, I will have it whupped.

Well, I put the old car in the classified ads for $5000. Then I got a pic of it taken by my old student, Eddie Glenn, whom I love and reduced the price to $4500. I felt bad about asking too much. Eddie is off to get his PhD in Communications. I will miss him. He's a good reporter, but I still have Teddye Snell who is also a good writer. I hope I can sell the old car. I'm worried because no one called tonight, the first night of the ad. Bummer!

This week, after finally getting rid of 7 puppies and the mother(Yes, I gave away 8 dogs), I bought a new, used car. I shop on eBay for cars so that I don't have to run around and spend money on gas hunting a car. I bought my Cadillac on eBay for $6,000. It's old but has very low mileage which is what I wanted. Well, I turned 60 YEARS OLD (!!!!!) a couple of days ago and I thought I should get a car that will last so I can retire in about 4 years. I checked eBay and found a RAV 4 at a nearby Arkansas dealer that looked good. So I contacted them, sent them all my financial data, etc., and went over there on Monday to get the car. The salesman informed me that I was lucky because they were going to send the car to auction that day! I was seriously pissed about that because, since I sent them all my information, I assumed they thought I was serious about buying the car. Also the web guy from the dealership promised to have all the paperwork done so we could be out of there quickly. Well, we were there from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., mostly sitting around waiting. I got to drive the new car about a block and that was that. Then I waited some more. I was supposed to attend a birthday party here at 6 p.m. Missed that. We finally got home at about 8 p.m. We went to Applebee's and got their sirloin steak. I had to throw it up because it was so tough I couldn't chew it small enough. Lord! What a day! I am seriously hoping that the new car lasts until I die or get put in the nursing home, whichever comes first. I don't care as long as I never, never, never have to buy a car again. The new car is fancier than my old RAV. It has electric windows. I nearly had two wrecks trying to get the windows in the right spot. Also it has a moonroof. I had to read the manual to figure out how to open it. Once I figured it out, it turned out that the manual isn't exactly correct. You're supposed to punch a button to get it to open up. So I punched the button and the thing scared me half to death because it ratcheted back the little cover and opened up like greased lightning. But I wanted to get it to raise up so the car wouldn't get hot while I was at school. I finally figured out how to get it to do that, but when I returned to the car, I couldn't get it to close up. It's in the 90s here with about 90% humidity and I didn't want to leave the thing open. I finally pushed the button enough times to get it to close, but I still don't know how I did it. I have the feeling the moonroof will be useless. It also has this big thing that is supposed to cover up your luggage to hide it from thieves. I figure that if you have the thing on, thieves will immediately assume there's something to steal. I will have to throw that thing away. It has some sort of curtain too. I don't know what the hell that is for. Some folks told me it was a shade curtain, but I don't know where to hang the thing. We thought that the car didn't have a jack because the salesman was too stupid to find it. It has a jack though I'm familiar with Toyota jacks and I can't work them. They offered me $1200 to trade in my old car. True, it's 11 years old and has almost 105,000 miles on it, but Toyotas are supposed to last forever. They guy told me my old car had been wrecked. I was very surprised. He figured this out from the paint inside the hood. I said I'd like to know the trick on that so he showed me where there was a paint line inside the hood and said that usually the nuts had lost their paint when the fender was replaced. The nuts still had paint. So he popped the hood on a brand new car. It was a hybrid, but he didn't know that. Amazing that the sales guy doesn't know a hybrid when he sees it. Anyway, the paint was exactly like the paint on my old RAV. It had never been wrecked. What a dunce!!! Later, he told me to ask $4500 for my old car. He thinks I can get that. Jeez! So now I have to sell my old RAV. I'm asking $5,000 and figure I'll get around $4500 for it. But I had a terrible time buying that new car. Next time, I'll just buy one on eBay and have it shipped to my like the Cadillac. That was a very good deal and it wasn't nerve-wracking in the least.